[Background: photo of John F. Kennedy]
Intro graphic: Remarks of the President on the 50th anniversary of the 1st Workmen’s Compensation Act on the south lawn of the White House, August 31, 1961
Mr. Vice President, Governor Freeman, Postmaster General Day and Members of the Cabinet…
[background: photo of John F. Kennedy walking with Lyndon Johnson on the White House driveway with a Secret Service Agent and White in the background]
I want to express our great pleasure at being here this morning and having this opportunity to salute the State of Wisconsin, the State Legislature of that State…
[graphic on screen “May 3, 1911 Governor McGovern signs Workman’s Insurance Bill”, next procedure will be appointment of accident board of three persons]
for the action it took in 1911, fifty years ago, in passing the first State Workmen’s Compensation Law.
[background: photo of Wisconsin State Journal headline stating “Compensation Law Held Valid]
And the leadership shown in that State on that occasion was followed in later years by other actions which that State took in the Twenties, which led directly to passage in the Thirties of the National Social Security Act.
[Background: photo of John R. Commons with text stating “John R Commons drafted the legislation establishing Wisconsin’s pioneering worker’s compensation program]
This first step, to provide security for American working men who may have been injured…
[Background: photo of Charles McCarthy with text stating “Charles McCarthy, Chief of the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, assisted John Commons in drafting legislation establishing Wisconsin’s worker’s compensation program]
To provide security for their families if they have been fatally injured, represents one of the great landmarks of social legislation on our books in the long history of this country.
[Background: photo of John F. Kennedy speaking at a podium with an enlarged version of a stamp in the background signifying the 50th anniversary of Wisconsin’s worker’s compensation program]
That promising beginning has meant security to millions of Americans, and it represents the kind of forward-looking action on [the] State and national level, the need for which faces us in our own day in 1961.
We look back today, but we also look forward, and we recognize that in our time…
[Background: photo of the Chapter 50 Laws of 1911 indicating the creation of section 2394-1 through 2394-32 establishing worker’s compensation]
In the States, and in the national government there is still a good deal of unfinished business, to provide more security for our younger people who want jobs and can’t find them, to provide more security for those who are unemployed, for those particularly who are unemployed chronically…
[Background: photo of postcard commemorating the 50th anniversary of the worker’s compensation program which featured Wausau Daily Record Herald headline “Compensation Law Effective Today”]
And who have families who depend upon them who exhaust their unemployment compensation, who have exhausted in recent weeks the emergency unemployment compensation…
[Background: photo of 50th Anniversary of the Worker’s Compensation Law and Labor Day postcard]
And who now want to work and find themselves having to turn to inadequate public assistance.
[Background: photo of plaque detailing the highlights of the Worker’s Compensation Law signed into law on Sept 1, 1911]
And we also recognize the great need that lies before us to deal more satisfactorily with the question of health in our society; most particularly and immediately is the health of our older citizens, those who are chronically ill, those who come to the end of their working lives with inadequate resources…
[Background: photo of 4 cent postage stamp commemorating Worker’s Compensation’s 50th Anniversary]
Stored away in spite of many years of devoted labor, inadequate resources to meet their medical bills.
[Background: photo of postcard commemorating the 50th anniversary of the worker’s compensation program which featured an image of the State of Wisconsin Capitol Building]
I believe it is the national responsibility in the Sixties, and the national opportunity, as it was the responsibility and opportunity of the Wisconsin State Legislature in 1911…
[Background: photo of the State of Wisconsin Capitol in background with unidentified statue in the foreground]
For us to meet this problem of medical care for our older citizens, and better medical care for all our citizens.
[Background: photo of 4 cent postage stamp commemorating Worker’s Compensation’s 50th Anniversary]
So I want to congratulate the Post Office for this memorial to progress. I am delighted that the Governor [Gaylord Nelson], a distinguished Governor, a progressive Governor of the State of Wisconsin…
[Background: photo of the State of Wisconsin Capitol in background with unidentified statue in the foreground behind a bed of yellow Tulips]
To which we all owe much, that he has come here today and participated in this ceremony. And I am sure that his presence here -- this stamp -- that when all of us look at this stamp and put it on any letter, or see it on any letter that we receive…
[Background: photo of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson displaying Worker’s Compensation commemorative 4 cent postage stamp]
That we remember that all of us, in our time and generation, have as great an opportunity as the State Legislature of 1911, that we mean to take advantage of that opportunity and meet that responsibility in the areas I have described. I am grateful to all of you for coming today.
[crowd applauds Kennedy]
[Background: photo of Miss Forward who sits atop the Capitol dome and with text over the top stating: On May 3, 1911, Wisconsin Governor Francis E. McGovern signed into law the United States' first constitutional worker's compensation law.
As we mark the ccentenial year of our pioneering worker's compensation law, Wisconsin citizens justifiably take satisfaction and pride in continuing the work of those imaginative and inspired men and women, who one-hundred years ago, gave impetus to this effective system of social insurance that is now universally accepted.]